Get Out of Jail

That's the title of an editorial in today's Houston Chronicle, subtitled, "Too many Americans, especially those who reside in Harris County, are behind bars."

ACCORDING to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London, the United States has 2.3 million people behind bars — more than any other country. China, with four times the population, imprisons only 1.6 million criminals (not counting hundreds of thousands of political prisoners).

The U.S. incarceration rate, 751 prisoners per 100,000 in population, is about six times the median rate for other countries.

In few places is this appalling and embarrassing condition more manifest than in Texas, which has the second-highest number of prisoners behind California, and the second-highest incarceration rate behind Louisiana.

Holding 10,245 inmates as of midnight Tuesday, the Harris County Jail is so crowded that Sheriff Tommy Thomas has already sent 600 inmates to a lockup in Louisiana and will be sending 1,130 more to facilities in that state.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards recently found the Harris County Jail in compliance with all applicable standards. However, the jail is certified to hold only 9,400 inmates, almost 2,000 fewer than have been recently crowded into its four facilities.

And:

A large part of the jail overcrowding problem resides with the elected judges here. They don't make good use of pre-trial release and other jail diversion programs that allow minor, nonviolent offenders to return to their jobs and families while awaiting trial.

Some judges set up defendants to fail, making the terms of their probation so onerous that successful completion is unlikely. A minor infraction can send a probationer back to jail and then to prison to serve a long sentence.

The Legislature is also to blame. Over the years it has made too many minor offenses felonies. Judges are allowed to set high, unattainable bail, dooming many indigent inmates to months or years of jail time before they have a chance to make their case in court.